Why hot water for washing up dishes?

What temperature water do you use for washing dishes?

Hot Water
4
50%
Cold Water
1
13%
Mixture
3
38%
 
Total votes: 8

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ChrisGreaves
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Why hot water for washing up dishes?

Post by ChrisGreaves »

This morning I used cold-water for washing-up and rinsing. Is it not true that we use hot-water because our ancestors did, and that they used hot-water to loosen up grease? (coming as I do from a Fried-Lancashire background)

Today my cooking has little grease, and modern detergents eclipse old-fashioned lye-soaps in ability to loosen fats.
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PJ_in_FL
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Re: Why hot water for washing up dishes?

Post by PJ_in_FL »

I use hot water for washing and rinsing, unless the water heater is broken. Went for 2 months last year before replacing the water heater (had the new water heater the entire time but didn't look forward to the unsoldering and resoldering the pipes), so I learned to use hot water (via microwave) sparingly. However, anytime a pasta or chicken item was eaten, I heated extra water as even Dawn could not clear the grease from plastic surfaces in cold water.




P.S. Cold showers, even in Florida, are not fun so those happened exclusively at the gym. Great incentive to get to the gym each day whether you want to or not ...
PJ in (usually sunny) FL

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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Why hot water for washing up dishes?

Post by ChrisGreaves »

PJ_in_FL wrote:... as even Dawn could not clear the grease from plastic surfaces ...
Maybe it's time to find a new partner? :flee: :evilgrin:

I agree about the heavy grease. My parents saved the beef dripping and used it to fry the bacon, the eggs, the bread etc.
I look back and wonder whether they both weren't adopted from the Deep South (as in John Grisham country - "deep-fried everything").
Today even my beef/chicken fat use is sparing, a smear, usually, if that.

My "regular" grease would be a dash of vegetable oil, and regular detergent shifts that.

Also I usually drop dishes in a washing-up bowl of water so that Time and the Universal Solvent does most of the work.
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BobH
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Re: Why hot water for washing up dishes?

Post by BobH »

I grew up in a house with running water but no hot water or central heating. We had fireplaces in 5 rooms but usually used only one of them unless it was a holiday or special occasion when we would light a fire in the living room (parlor) fireplace. Water left on a table in the dead of winter would freeze in the unheated bedrooms.

For bathing, we heated water on the gas range and toted (carried) it in large buckets to the bathtub. For washing up, we heated a smaller amount and poured it into a pan in the sink in which we washed dishes then rinsed them in cold tap water.

I was 16 before I experienced hot water coming from a tap and the warmth of an oil heater. For years before, I would get up at 5:00 am to deliver newspapers but before leaving the house I would set and light a coal fire so that my dad could have his morning coffee before a hot fire before going to work.

The strange thing is that I thought nothing of it. There were many of my acquaintance who lived in far worse conditions. I doubt my daughter or many of the millennials could do this day in and day out without going around the bend.

Of course, I'm older than cussin' and spittin', too.
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Why hot water for washing up dishes?

Post by ChrisGreaves »

BobH wrote:I grew up in a house with running water but no hot water or central heating. ...
Hi Bob.
I can, as they say, relate to all this.
I think I have documented elsewhere that I grew up in a house with no running COLD water, only hot. Water came 230 miles in a 30" main above-ground, and by the time it snaked in 1/2" galvanized piping over our backyard it was too hot to bear.

My bathtub-duties involved wiping out the tub and then plugging the drain and running too-hot-to-touch water from the only tap, so that it could cool down enough over the next 23 hours for my sister to have a bath, followed by my mother, my father and finally - the grubbiest of all - me!
Drain, refill, wait 23 hours. A sort of rinse-and-repeat.

The whole town envied the Doctor, because HE had a hot-water heater in his ceiling, and in summer-time he could turn off the power and enjoy water at drinkable temperature from his HOT faucet, and wash-up in the hot water from the COLD water.

"It were heaven" (Note to Hans: Do NOT click on this link!)
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HansV
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Re: Why hot water for washing up dishes?

Post by HansV »

Bob's story did remind me of the Four Yorkshiremen...
Best wishes,
Hans

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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Why hot water for washing up dishes?

Post by ChrisGreaves »

HansV wrote:Bob's story did remind me of the Four Yorkshiremen...
You peeked!
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HansV
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Re: Why hot water for washing up dishes?

Post by HansV »

:blush:
Best wishes,
Hans

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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Why hot water for washing up dishes?

Post by ChrisGreaves »

HansV wrote::blush:
"Blush"!
You're lucky.
In my day we had to make do with ....
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